I THINK FULL METAL JACKET ON BLU-RAY IS AT IT'S BEST-
PICTURE QUALITY IS EXCELLENT AND THE AUDIO IS BRILLIANT-I LOVED THE STORY TO THIS FILM,BECAUSE IT SHOWS THE DARK AND REAL EVENTS OF WAR AND IT CAPTURES THE TERROR AND FEAR OF WAR FOR WHAT THE MEN HAVE TO GO THROUGH AND THE FEELING THAT YOU CAN BE KILLED AT ANY MOMENT-IT IS JUST A FANTASTIC MOVIE-I RATE THIS FILM A 10/10.FROM KRATOS-1977.

There are not many movies worth purchasing again just because they're now available in Blu-Ray, but this is one of them. The message of Kubrick's Vietnam War drama is more poignant when seen in all its original splendor. Don't miss you chance to experience the haunting soundtrack and imerse yourself in a forgotten time of US history. Who knew is was all shot in England!

Just like the original. Just what i expected. this is the one with the better features GET THIS VERSION. the Hi-Def on older movies is a tough thing to get looking and sounding good. they did pretty good with this one.

Good Nam War movie a must have if you're a fan of military conflict action style movies. Good video and sound track quality, good one to replace VHS copy or start new Blu-ray libery for action flicks.

I have previously owned the standard definition DVD of Full Metal Jacket and only purchased it because I was unable to find a wide screen version. Well, the HD-DVD version is now available and is exactly what I wanted. It is shown in it's widescreen glory, and the image quality is crystal clear in the high def format. The sound quality is first rate as well. If you purchased an HD-DVD player as I did, this is a great addition to your movie collection.

This is the best vietnam movie out there. The Bootcamp is the best ever done. Too this day you dont see another bootcamp scene like this.

After seeing what the new technology can do to the visual quality of another Vietnam film 30+ years old (The Deer Hunter), I was disappointed in how this presentation of FMJ looked in hi-def. It almost looks like the SD (standard def) disc was "dubbed" and simply relabeled "HD"; much of the first half of the film looks over-exposed & washed out, esp. scenes in the barracks. In addition there is NOTHING extra included in the HD disc vs. the disc! No commentaries, no deleted scenes, nothing! As large & diverse as this ensemble cast was, surely Warner Brothers could have found at least ONE of the actors to provide some much-needed insight on how this film was made & the feelings of the cast on-set.

I hope the "deluxe" HD-DVD package brings more to the table than this one...it wouldn't be difficult at all.

I have always enjoyed this great movie and now that I am starting to use my Blue Ray player more often, I am glad to see a classic like this one on Blue Ray.

Seller delivered exactly item promised. Was in excellent condition, and delivered fast. Safe, honest, reliable seller that I would definitely do business again with!

Having gone through at least SOME of what the movie portrays, I can tell you, that this is the closest I've seen to date on what Marine Corps boot camp was like in the 60s. The DI as played by Ermey is so dead-on it's scary. The only major gaffe was Joker and others calling the DI "you". That would not be allowed. He would have been "the Drill Instructor, Sir" and Joker would have referred to himself as "the Private". Boot camp was so traumatic for just about everyone that everything after that WAS like throwing a switch. There was a disconnect. The sudden jump to VietNam in the movie was perfect, I thought. Joker's desire to get out in the bush and leave the relative comfort of the "rear" was true to the experience too. Being "in country" was surreal on it's own. Teenagers with loaded weapons... far from home and scared... and you would suddenly, in the middle of nowhere, run into guys you had known in boot or another duty station. The only two films I've ever seen that had truly great USMC advisors were this one and "Coming Home". So many subtle nuances and Corps tidbits. I love this movie. It isn't perfect, but it occupies a place in a time that I share... it reminds me of young men who became my best friends and bizarre situations that I can never really explain to anyone who didn't go through them.

" Today ... is his birthday...I will never forget this day. The day I came
to Hue City and fought one million N.V.A. gooks. I love the little Commie bastards, man, I really do. These enemy grunts are as hard as slant-eyed drill instructors. These are great days we're living, bros!'We are jolly
green giants, walking the earth with guns. These people we wasted here today ... are the finest human beings we will ever know. After we rotate back to the world, we're gonna miss not having anyone around that's worth
shooting."

One of the coldest movie dialogs, i've heard in this movie. It pretty much gave an example of what exactly the whole "Killer grunt" mode was all about in Vietnam. Instead of cheesy, corny dialog... this was as real as it could get.

This film's a masterpiece and the memorable characters being the 'lovable' Drill Instructor Hartman ... "You pukes will sleep with your rifles! You will give your rifle a girl's name! Because this is the only pu#@y you people are going to get! "

Along with "Platoon", "Full Metal Jacket" is one of the best anti-war films concerning Vietnam. This Special edition which is the 2nd one to be released in HD & blu-ray is a big improvement over the first edition. Also there are interviews with the cast members such R. Lee Ermey, Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio & Dorian Harewood. The image is sharp and there is very little grain at all. This belongs up there with Kubrick's own "Paths of Glory" as one of the great anti-war films of all time. Perhaps George W. Bush should have seen this before making his fateful decision to send our troops in harms way!!

I love this movie. I really like the drill instructor (R. Lee Ermey) and his ability to bring realism to the roll.

The HD version of this was what I would expect from Kubrick, raw and uncut (mostly).

By now, you probably already know how good a movie Full Metal Jacket is.
If we have to explain the origins of Lee Ermy or go into detail about how great a war movie this is... well... just buy it and see for yourself.

In terms of this medium, HD-DVD is an excellent way to enjoy this movie.
The visual quality is average. I'm attributing that to the age of the source film, but the HD-DVD comes out excessively grainy and not as sharp as more modern titles. It's still a head above regular DVD.. but not much.
In terms of audio, that's where this really stands out.
TrueHD 5.1 is the feature and you will never have heard Kubrick's war masterpiece as clearly as this. Even the original cinema wouldn't have given you this much ear delight.
Special features? who cares... I buy a movie for the movie, and rarely do i ever sit around for 4 hours later watching rubbish they tack on to make the back of the box look better.

Overall; Not exactly a HD-DVD demo, but great soundtrack and better visual quality than DVD make this the best way to experience FMJ.

that's right full metal is about the war within. most people think kubrick did not focus on the human condition. are you kidding? we have two prime examples right here, the first being focused on gomer pile, the second half on joker. two very different struggles and all bein from within. this psychological struggle is in the shining, clockwork, 2001 and so on....
anyway, this film is classic and for good reason. it's awsome. there's a million quatable lines which tends to suggest that the script has something going for it. lee ermy shines like a diamond here. we witness moody scenes that often burrow into our psyche. pile's suicide typically burns it's way into there. the scene compsotion (thanks to kubricks still photography roots) is beautiful and often surreal, not too far from the shining.
everyone tends to favor the first half. being that full metal jacket almost feels like 2 seperate films, it's almost impossible to measure up to, or exceed the greatness of the first. what i realised is that you should not try to relate the two parts as they really are totally different. the films pace slows down with the second half as well. the actual battle scenes are far and few between, further alienating full metal jacket from being a typical war movie. it almost seems that the war is actually over. i always felt like the soldiers were just meandering around ruins to make sure no survivors remained. just a grim feeling runs through you during these episodes.
the music shouldnt be overlooked in any of kubricks work. we have a mix of popluar songs with atmospheric pieces filled with jarring ambiant tones, void of melody. highly effective sound track in its manic structure.
this dvd seems to have the fewest extras of all the sets releases, however we are treated to commentary by several of the films participants. if only ermy made more of an appearance on the track.
too many people piss n moan over screening ratios and nit pick every little detail. after seeing this movie so many times on a vhs tape i am elated i have it here in this presentation as was intended by the man himself who made it for us. and actually, we have even more than he intended in this case. no complaints form me. 5+ stars!

m-i-c--k-e-y. m-o-u-s-e.......

My comments only concern the DVD versus Blu-ray issue.

I have an older version of the DVD (Stanley Kubrick Collection, white box) and the deluxe Blu-ray version. My experience has been that DVDs mastered in high definition look identical to the Blu-ray version (either on a Blu-Ray player or an upconvert DVD player). In this case, the Blu-ray version is MUCH better. The differece is much like the samples used in stores to show the difference betwee regular and high definition--you know, grainy on one side sharp on the other.

Also, the DVD version is full frame and the Blu-ray version is widescreen. What's odd, however, is that to make the widescreen version the top and bottom of the full screen version were chopped off--sort of the opposite of how widescreen movies are trimmed for full screen. Even so, I carefully watched and it didn't seem to matter. There were still a few grainy scenes (mostly combat scenes), but these were still much better than the DVD version.

Another big plus is that the Blu-ray version has special features (a commentary track,a behind the scenes featurette, and the trailer), but the DVD only has the trailer.

Unlike some Blu-ray versions, this one was definitely worth the upgrade.

I was talking to a co-worker one time and we were talking about movies that left huge impressions on us visually. See, we couldn't agree on what could be considered "great writing" for a movie, so the conversation shifted to visuals, which should have been an easier conversation to have. It wasn't. His idea of a visually stunning movie was "The Fast and the Furious," mainly because of how many explosions and cut-away editing tricks that were on display. He asked me what movies I felt were visually stimulating, and I gave him two names: Tim Burton and Stanley Kubrick. Though he was familiar with Burton, Kubrick's films were a mystery to him. I don't know why. Even if you haven't seen a Kubrick film, many of how movies have iconic images in them.

I counted three in his Vietnam film "Full Metal Jacket." Aside from those three images though, "Full Metal Jacket" is easily the most visually stunning Vietnam film I've ever seen. It is haunting to look at, and the tone of the film from the facial expressions, to the color, to the shadows create images that seem to drill right into your eyes, leaving them in your head for the rest of your life. That said, while "Full Metal Jacket" will evoke emotions from you for it's powerful imagery, the movie is, sadly, a shallow shell. The problem, I believe, comes in the fact that the movie never really establishes an emotional connection with the audience, even when the visuals do establish something. In fact, if I were to be fair, I'd go as far as to say this was actually two movies merged into one.

The first half is the more story oriented of the two, but still confusing. At first we're under the impression that the protagonist of the movie is the cold-hearted Gunnery Sergeant Hartman ®. Lee Ermey), who takes up most of the first half hour of the film, barking orders and abusing the trainees. It's at this point though a kind soul, the overweight Leonard Lawrence (Vincent D'Onofrio), who starts the film as a shy boy, but then slowly goes mad thanks to the humiliating training. During the second half of the film though, the movie drops these two stories and follows Joker (Matthew Modine), a fellow Marian trainee during the first half of the film, who's now been promoted to sergeant and is fighting in Vietnam. At this point any narrative the film attempted to establish before is lost.

The rest of the film is about American soldiers killing innocent Vietnam families, side stories about how the soldiers horny needs aren't being met, and one of the strangest war scenes I've seen, where a film crew films a shoot out with the famous sixties song "Surfin Bird" playing in the background. The movie begins with a hopeless situation and go absolutely nowhere. It's an exercise in futility, where the only thing to see are people going mad. There are no characters to connect with, no larger story arc to follow, and no hidden meaning. Just a bunch of soldiers going crazy to the tune of odd songs and visual tricks. It looks stunning, but I found I just didn't care much at the end of the day.

Rating: ** stars

Ten years before the Vietnam War, Stanley's Kubrick's breakthrough film was "Paths of Glory", an effective, chilling indictment of WWI jingoism and its barbaric conception of humanity. It's a bit preachy but a great war film. Using this same ideological framework, Kubrick set out to make a film about a tragic conflict that occurred in his own lifetime, with its own ironies and contradictions. But whereas WWI saw the ultimate defeat of 19th Century military glory, Vietnam has the distinction of being the first truly post-modern war and as such the subject has a bit more nuance.

As for pointing out war's contradictions, inhumanity, "Jungian" duality of man and all the rest... Full Metal Jacket underperforms. The first half of the film is outstanding as we follow a young, endearing but pathetic recruit who is mutilated by the blood-lust of a US Marine Drill Sargeant. The hapless young soldier, it winds up, becomes too successfully indoctrinated, and devolves into nothing less than an insane killing machine. It is a very sad and poignant story, and in itself a horrifying indictment of militarism.

Unfortunately, when it comes time for Kubrick to follow up on his themes in the second half, the film comes up short. If it were not for Kubrick's incredible talents as a filmmaker and technician, I would have to give Full Metal Jacket 3 stars. However, the Vietnam scenes are exceeding well shot and some of more interesting recreations of combat in any movie. Alas, the fragmented, meandering picaresque climaxes in a woefully "ironic" ending that is a big letdown. Still, for the first half, Full Metal Jacket has to be considered an exceptional film -- but unlike most of Kubrick's work it does not benefit from repeat viewings.

I can't say enough about one of my all time favorite movies, this with Apocalypse Now are the top 2 Vietnam movies for sure. I love Kubrick and I love this movie, needless to say I was very disappointed in this DVD translation. I have to say this HD DVD was an extreme letdown for me. This was the first HD DVD I bought, so I was ready to take the player back when I watched it the first time. I even applied a patch to my player and watched it again but that didn't help either. The graininess was almost unbearable for me, very disappointing. Some standard DVDs look as good or better in my opinion. If this is as good as it gets on HD DVD, I see why Blu-ray will win for sure. A decent HD cable channel blows it away for richness of color and definition. Don't waste your money on this and don't invest in a lot of HD DVDs, Stanley Kubrick must be doing somersaults in his grave!

I am A retired Marine (21 yrs) The movie did an outstanding job on the part of Marine Corps bootcamp.Anyone ever wondering what Marine bootcamp or Drill Instuctor's were like need look no further. That being said the part about Vietnam was a little over the top. All in all an excellent movie!

Although I enjoyed seeing the training part of this move (my brother recently went through it and became a Marine), the movie does end up feeling un-American and un-Patriotic. But this is not a surprise, since when does Holly Wood create anything positive about the nation that gives it the freedom to create boring unpatriotic movies.

The main reason I took time to right this review is to warn everyone that the video quality is truly horrible for an HD DVD. If you like this movie for its story or for some other reason, maybe you should just get the DVD. This HD DVD is definitely not one you would want to show someone if your trying to convince them to upgrade to HD.

First up a commentary about the qualty of the Blu-ray presentation then for those that are interested an analysis of Kubrick's film. The Blu-ray presentation is nearly flawless with a rich looking, terrific presentation with sharp images and an accurate representation of the color scheme of the film.

Note: Keep in mind that this film was ALWAYS grainy and Kubrick intentionally went with a "flat" look for the lighting of the film. However, an earlier edition of the film used an older HD master that didn't do the film any favors and had issues with the MPEG2 compression technology not being able to do an adequate job of keeping up with the shifting images (particularly in the latter half of the film. This probably isn't the disc to "knock your socks off" about Blu-ray because of the way it was shot. The new edition, however, accurately reflects the "look", textures and feel of the original film much more accurately than ANY other version to date.

The extras which include a commentary track by the cast (although curiously Matthew Modine is absent), is extremely good providing bits of detail about the production of the film. As Vincent D'onofrio points out Kubrick would probably be very unhappy if he was alive and knew there was a commentary track on the film. Kubrick wanted his films to be accepted without commentary or observations about those involved in the production (much like Spielberg)but it does help to have these observations to provide a context about the making of the film. As with the DVD we get a number of terrific featurette "Beyond Good and Evil" that provides insight into the making of the film and themes that Kubrick shapes.

How does this compare to the DVD? It looks better of course. How does this compare to the HD-DVD? Since both used the same encoding, it should look roughly the same but I haven't had time to do a side-by-side comparison. I can't compare this to the previous Blu-ray edition because I don't have it.

Any film is truly about the era the film was made in whether it be a period drama, science fiction or romantic comedy set in another time it captures the essence of that era, comments on it through the actions of the characters and behaviors and even the themes itself. This was true of "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Jaws" as much as it is about "Citizen Kane" and "Vertigo". Great films, however, manage to also transcend the era about which they were made because they manage to touch on much more sweeping, grand (or in this case intimate) themes pursuing the essence of what it is to be human. "Full Metal Jacket" Stanley Kubrick's penultimate film fits in this category. It's as much about the Reagan/Bush era as it is about the Vietnam/60's experience and manages to be both clinical and intimate touching on the small moments that altered these individual's lives unlike the epic "Apocalypse Now" (to which this film is a terrific companion piece).

The story is, essentially, broken into two sections equally powerful and satiric; the first half is set on Paris Island where new recruits are indoctrinated into the military way--their identities are symbolically taken away as they are "reborn" with their heads shaved, they are given a new set of rules and codes to live by and are "reborn" to kill. This section focuses on the tools these men are also given to be both killing machines and survival with the hopes that they can retain some sense of humanity as well.

The second half focuses on their experience in Vietnam itself where they've "grown up" into the hunters they were retrained to be. Kubrick manages to be both satiric and, surprisingly, allows us the audience to connect with the characters wayward humanity in scenes where they interact. Most of the what's left of these people are the surface and underneath when unleased are deadly creatures as dark, base and cynical as the astronaunts in "2001" are intellectual, detacted and curious. It's a fascinating companion piece to Kubrick's films "Paths of Glory", "Dr. Strangelove", "2001" and "Clockwork" all of which touch on the same themes.

...Since I think it's one of the most powerful war movies ever made. I saw it in the theatre when I was 8, and the boot camp sequence stuck with me. The reason I'm giving this 1 star is, why is there no release of the Deluxe edition on standard DVD? Is there some research that suggests that people don't buy standard DVDs any more? I spent hundreds of dollars replacing my VHS collection with DVDs- I'm not about to do the same thing with HD-DVD. Warner Bros, you owe your customers more than this.

*Update, 3/4/08- With the recent developments in the market (Sony going with Blu-Ray and Toshiba saying they will stop making HD-DVDs), this particular product is even more irrelevant than when I first wrote the review.

Looks like a brand new film - colors are natural, film grain barely noticeable - razor sharp image. Very pleased.

Amazon, are you all messed up or what? Why are you including non HD DVD Reviews?

Full Metal Jacket has to be one of the best war movies that I have ever watched.

This is an excellent transfer to blu-ray, 100% better than the previous release. You can really tell it has been cleaned up, even on smaller screens.

I took my wife (still married since 1987) to this movie for our very first date. Yes, yes it was a mistake - what was I thinking. Nevertheless it has always been a topic of humorous conversation throughout the many years we've been together.

I agree with other reviewers that the boot camp scene is the only section of the movie that catapults this movie above the rest. I had been in boot camp only a couple of years before, so it resonated with me on a different level I guess. The rest of the movie is rather blah and the ending is rather ridiculous, so that is what prevents me from giving it a full 5 stars.

I recommend it, but don't take your date to it, unless you really want to end up married. ha ha

If you're a fan of this film like me and had bought the Blu-Ray or HD-DVD before and thought "This is hi-def?", then you're in for a treat. This newly remastered version has a sharper picture and better color image and new commentaries to boot. While not as stunning a transfer as "The Shining" or "2001", this is still a much improved re-release. Trade in your old copy and purchase with confidence.

This is arguably the best film from Kubrick's late period (in which he only completed 3 films in a 24 year time span). It is a deeply perplexing film, filled with unanswered questions, ambiguities, and the like, but then, it wouldn't be a Kubrick film if it wasn't. Like many Kubrick films, it grows over time, and you see things you never saw before every time you see it. Many friends of mine who served in the military have said that the first half of the film is the most accurate portrayal of basic training they've ever seen. It is 40 minutes of the most intense filmmaking Kubrick has ever done. It doesn't get old or tired.

Many people dislike the 2nd half of the film because that intensity in the first half isn't there. I have some problems with it, too. Mainly, there are some awkward dissolves that occur in the beginning of the 2nd half. I read that Full Metal Jacket was originally supposed to be longer (around 2 1/2 hours), but Kubrick decided against it. It's rather sloppy filmmaking, and coming from Kubrick, it's especially disappointing, and borderline inexcusable. However, after a bumpy beginning, the film settles into a groove, and becomes mythic, strange, and surreal, and by the time the final battle is fought, the film has taken on a new life of its own. Kubrick had said that he wanted to make a film about war itself, not necessarily an anti-war film, or a pro-war film. Why do we fight wars, knowing how awful they are upon the human pysche? Yet, we still do them.

I like the fact that Kubrick makes no attempt to connect the 2 segments. It is reminiscent of 2001 and AI, where the acts are not connected in any conventional way. It leaves the viewer disoriented, but I feel this helps the film immensely. The film is filled with excellent moments. The dialogue is superb, filled with memorable lines. There is some very pointed cynicism during the segment where the soldiers are interviewed by the BBC cameramen. And the ending is very ironic indeed. The film leaves more answers than questions, and I like that aspect of it very much. This is certainly one of the best war films ever made, and one that doesn't cue you how to feel, like some of them do (Platoon, for example). I never really dug Stone's film; I always preferred Kubrick's film.

This review is for the movie itself, not the current edition of the DVD released by Warner Brothers.

The suicide. Then it gets boring. Having been to Parris Island the movie somewhat depicts that environment but not exclusively. In the beginning there are tons of laughs and maybe a tear jerk or two but after the suicide his comrades graduate and of to war, where you see one reading and writing in a journal all the time and blase blase blah. Ok, just check it out for yourself. You'll understand what I'm saying.

This 1987 Film, "Full Metal Jacket" is about my favorite War Film of all time. My other top favorites's are "Saving Private Ryan" & "Objective Burma". I'm so very surprized & disappointed that this great film was never released in the Widescreen Format in English. Does anyone know why this film has never been released in Widescreen --(English Version)? Anyway the Bootcamp training is exactly the way it is in the real world of the US Military. This is one reason why I rate this film at the very top of all war film's ever made. Extremely Authenic.

It was the Hague Convention of 1899 that banned bullets that flatten or easily expand in the body...so now militaries around the world use "Full Metal Jacket (FMJ)" rounds, which is why the movie isn't called something like "Jacketed-Hollow-Point (JHP)." Now while a JHP round has a lead core with a hollow tip, it also has a copper (generally) jacket of metal around the bottom 2/3rds or so of the body. Then when it hits target the speed of the bullet caused the tissue filling up the hole of the bullet to push the bullet walls out and make if larger in diameter causing more damage as it passes through the body. A full metal jacket bullet instead is a lead bullet completely surrounded by a copper jacket so it barely deforms at all when it hits almost anything except heavy bone, rock, metal, etc... The bullets are cheaper to make, less likely to jam and more likely to injure rather than kill.

One of the greatest movies of all time matched with one of the greatest playback formats available. Full Metal Jacket is a rite of passage alongside 'The Godfather' and 'Scarface' that needs to have the best sound and video to go with it so you hear the crispness of every curse and vehement disgust the drill sergeant spews at the fresh meat at Paris Island. It helps that HD DVD allows you to see every bit of spittle that goes with the screaming. Watch this movie, and if possible watch it in with and HD DVD player with a decent surround system with Dolby Digital capability and you will be stunned with it's greatness.

Great move but the transfer to blu-ray DVD wasn't vary good. Most parts of the movie are grainy. I expected a better quality transfer for a landmark movie such as this one. They could have at least remastered the movie but instead it looks like they made a DVD copy with slightly higher resolution. If you have the DVD version of this movie stick with it. It's probably looks the same.